Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303

[Colonel]

The Four Bar Motto: Never, Ever Go Around.

Doesn't matter how fucked up you are, slam it on the ground like it owes you money.

[Eric Janson]

Is it true that this carrier has had 31 crashes in its history?

My friends on the “inside” intimated that this was precipitated by being high on the approach. To add drag, they selected the gear down but they were above the 260 knot speed at which the lever is deactivated so the gear did not extend. Worse, it would not extend once they slowed below this speed unless the lever was cycled down-up-down.
And to make it even worse, the GPWS warnings “Too Low, Gear!” which is triggered by the radio altitude was suppressed and replaced by the higher-priority “Sink Rate!”

Airbus does have some strange logic which may not be obvious and may not even be explained in the books. This is being discussed on PPRuNe.

The landing gear Boolean diagram doesn't mention gear lever position - just that the valve in the down line opens below 260kt.

From personal experience the Airbus has to be flown exactly as the manufacturer specifies - otherwise strange things may/will happen.

You are dealing with multiple Computers that are programmed to act in a certain order of priority.


Example:- Simultaneous Engine Fire on one engine and Engine Failure on the other engine.

Fire is a RED warning and has priority. Comes with a repetitive chime.

Engine failure is an AMBER warning. Comes with a single chime.

In the above situation the Fire warning will be displayed with the engine failure "hidden" behind it.

Blindly following this procedure will result in shutting down the engine still producing power.

In case you think the above is far fetched - it really happened at Sabena after they encountered a flock birds just after lift-off. We had a group of their Pilots at a previous company - that's how I know about this.

Always take a moment to think about doing any irreversible action - it may not always be the right thing to do

[Nark]

What Eric said..

We went through that scenario during upgrade training. Nothing happens in that jet fast, so the pilot has no need to be faster than the computer feeding him information.

Col Boyd’s OODA loop. It works. Ingrain it. Use it.

[Colonel]

This isn't just Airbus:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAsia ... Flight_235

ATR-72:

a still-functional engine number one was incorrectly shut down by the pilot following the failure of engine number two

Your brain had better be moving faster than your hands.

Systems knowledge. Basic aircraft handling skills. You need both.

Let's say you're flying out in a prop twin, and it suddenly veers right
without decelerating. First you need to figure out WHAT HAPPENED
and then and only then, WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT.

Let's say you're flying out in a prop twin, and it suddenly veers right
and slows down.

1) What is happening?
2) What are my options?
3) Which is my best option?

Your brain had better be moving faster than your hands.

Let's say you're flying an Airbus, and you get a warning about fuel
imbalance. Do you skip all of the above, and just transfer some fuel?
I guess you could, but then you might have to practice your deadstick
landing skills in the Azores.

You still need some brains to fly an airplane, regardless of how fancy
and complicated it is. When all that fancy shit quietly and nastily fails,
you are faced with a much harder to problem to solve, than a simpler
airplane which just fucking does what you tell it to do.

In the case of the ATR-72 above, what started the crash was this:

Shortly after take-off, a fault in the auto-feather unit of the number 2 engine caused the automatic take-off power control system to auto-feather that engine

Thank you, stupid fucking safety equipment. Just do what I fucking
tell you to do.

Systems knowledge. Basic aircraft handling skills. You need both.

[Eric Janson]

Here's the interim report:-

https://www.caapakistan.com.pk/Upload/S ... IB-431.pdf

Still can't understand how things can deteriorate to this level.

[Nark]

Eric:
This is how it can deteriorate so such a level:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/business ... index.html
More than 30% of civilian pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses and are not qualified to fly, the country's aviation minister revealed Wednesday.

[Scudrunner]

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakista ... 1.72226964

This one says 40% !

[Colonel]

Everyone knows that basic aircraft handling skills and systems knowledge
are outdated. No one needs to know that stuff in the 21st Century, because
the airplane flies itself.

Did I get that narrative correct? Paper is what counts.

And remember kids, the lesson here is NEVER, EVER GO AROUND. You MUST
push a bad approach into a bad landing. If you don't do that, you might have a
paperwork problem, and everyone knows that paper is more important than the
real world, where people die.

Everyone fucks up. It's going to happen sooner or later, to everyone. If
you tell me with a straight face that you've never fucked up, you're either
a liar or you've never flown an airplane, and I'm not interested in your
opinion.

What makes a good pilot is NOT whether or not you fuck up.

What makes a good pilot is how you deal with it, when you fuck up.

Anyone can be a hero when everything is going fine.